{"nrhp_refnum":"84002271","name":"Whittenton Fire and Police Station","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Bay St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Taunton","county":"Bristol County","state":"MA","lat":41.92066812000007,"lon":-71.09644929399997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-07-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A municipal fire and police station on Bay Street in Taunton, Massachusetts, built in 1888 in the Queen Anne style from common bond brick. It was designed by Abner Coleman and built by James T. Bassett.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it a fine, minimally altered example of a Queen Anne municipal building. It is one of two fire stations in Taunton designed by the city's second fire chief, Abner Coleman. It was built to serve dense residential and commercial neighborhoods during a period of municipal advancement in the late 19th century. It meets criteria A and C.","narrative":"Built in 1888, this brick fire and police station on Bay Street in Taunton, Massachusetts, shows how a growing city housed its public services in the Queen Anne style. It was designed by Abner Coleman, the city's second fire chief, and built by James T. Bassett. The square main block rises two and a half stories under a hipped roof, with three large segmental-arched engine bays across the front. A central wall dormer has shingled walls and a three-part round-arched window. A smaller two-story dependency with a hipped roof housed the police station, and a hose-drying tower is attached at the rear. Apart from replaced doors, the building has changed little and is still used as it was originally. It is one of two Coleman-designed Queen Anne firehouses in Taunton, and it resembles the Weir and East Taunton stations. It was listed for its role in serving dense neighborhoods during the city's late nineteenth-century municipal growth, and for its architecture.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Abner Coleman (architect); James T. Bassett (builder)","architectural_style":"Queen Anne","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Present use is the same as the original: fire station. The form reports that the doors were replaced in the 20th century and that the building is otherwise minimally changed.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.255949-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/1/7894/63789401/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/84002271.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002271/6804f752e3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002271/6804f752e3-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whittenton_Fire_Station.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whittenton_Fire_Station.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63789401","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whittenton_Fire_and_Police_Station","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7996855"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/bristol-county/whittenton-fire-and-police-station-84002271/"}